Over the last few years, unprecedented growth in international business transactions has resulted in a corresponding increase in the demand for international communications services. To satisfy that increased demand, international communications carriers have deployed and continue to deploy additional transmission facilities, such as satellite communication links and undersea fiber optic cables, to connect, for example, international gateway switches between different countries. In addition, a number of carriers have implemented in their international telecommunications transmission systems alternate routing systems as part of a comprehensive plan for disaster recovery and network overflow management. These systems allow the establishment of communication paths between two international destinations via alternate transmission facilities when point-to-point first choice-circuit routes are unavailable (not in service or busy).
In spite of these investments and technological advances, calls to certain international destinations are sometimes completed only after a substantial number of repeated call attempts. The root cause of this unfortunate situation has been traced back to the overloaded and/or outdated conditions of the telecommunications systems of these destinations. Indeed, during busy hour periods at those destinations, even repeated call attempts are too often unavailing.
As is well known, high incidences of repeated unsuccessful call attempts cause increased congestion and reduced traffic-carrying capacity in a network. Callers' frustration and inefficient use of domestic and international trunks are the ultimate results. Furthermore, for international business callers who have to conduct critical business transactions over the phone within time windows sometimes made smaller by time zone differences, predictability in the call completion process is of paramount importance. Callers from countries accustomed to near one hundred percent, first try call completion, are clamoring for at least greater convenience if not their accustomed level of service for their international calls to these destinations.